Judgement by Fire: The Rapid Anti-Democratic Turn of American Christian Nationalism
By: Paul A Djupe, Jacob R Neiheisel, Anand E Sokhey, Brooklyn E Walker
Abstract:Ìý
In this chapter, we draw on a range of data to document the interlocked forces promoting an assertive, anti-democratic Christian nationalism. Specifically, we address three dynamics that have quickly consumed and channelled conservative Christianity into supporting anti-democratic movements. First, the demography of American religion has been changing at a drastic rate with the rise of the religious ‘nones’; ‘nones’ have become the largest ‘religious’ group, while white Christian identifiers are aging and have decreased in size. Second, conservative Christians have sorted to the Republican Party such that there are few White evangelical Democrats, and any partisan opposition to Republicans has been vilified as evil. Third, despite a shrinking ability to win elections on the basis of conservative Christian dominance, radicalization has been used to maintain the coalition and inspire high levels of turnout – supporters have been urged to see the rotation of power as a threat, to understand democratic process as fundamentally flawed, and increasingly to view the political process through an apocalyptic lens